Education leaders in the North have warned that the Covid pandemic has had a “highly disproportionate” impact on their schools after A level results revealed regional variations in grades.

Figures published by Ofqual this morning show the North East of England was the only one of nine regions in England which has seen the proportion of C grades and above at A level drop compared with last year.

And the percentage point increase in A/A* grades in this year’s A levels is twice as high in London as it is for students in the North East.

Frank Norris, a former academy trust director who is now special advisor on schools to the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said the figures demonstrate the need for action to be taken on a Covid education recovery plan that can benefit the North.

A levels 2021:

• 2021 A level results at a glance
• Disadvantage gap widens for poorer pupils
• Under 1% of teacher grades changed by boards

In the North East, the percentage of pupils achieving at least a C grade or better at A level was down by 0.4 percentage points in 2021 compared with last year’s figures. 

The South West saw no change, but all the other regions saw an increase, with the largest coming in the Midlands.

In the East Midlands the figure was 1.6 percentage points up, and in the West Midlands it was 1.1 percentage points.

The North East also saw a smaller absolute increase in the proportion of grades receiving an A or A* grade in 2021 than any other region - a 3.6 percentage point increase, compared with a 7.2 percentage point increase in London and a 6.8 percentage point increase in the East Midlands.

However, some parts of the North saw larger increases than the North East and parts of the South.

In the North West, the figure was up by 5.6 percentage points and in Yorkshire and the Humber it increased by 6.1 percentage points.

Mr Norris said: “Today’s results have confirmed our fears that the pandemic has had a highly disproportionate impact across the Northern regions.

“All regions saw an increase in the proportion of students achieving a Grade C or above - except for the North East where it dropped 0.4 [percentage points]. The North East also saw the smallest increase in the proportion of students achieving a grade A. 

“All of this suggests there is real urgency in agreeing and acting upon an education recovery plan that supports students in the future. This cannot wait any longer.”

The North East saw a fall of -0.4% in the proportion of students achieving a Grade C or above - no other region saw any fall in this category.

The NE also saw the smallest increase in the proportion of students achieving a grade A. #alevelresults2021 pic.twitter.com/LT4F6w0WTc

- The Northern Powerhouse Partnership (@NP_Partnership) August 10, 2021

During the 2020 autumn term, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership warned that  Northern students would be disadvantaged if GCSEs and A levels go ahead after spending more time out of school because of Covid.

Snapshot figures in October revealed that almost three-quarters of the areas with the lowest secondary school attendance were in the North. 

This was before the Alpha variant drove a surge of cases in the South East at the end of the year.